The present invention relates generally to loaders and, more particularly, to a time delay for a seat interlock mechanism for a loader boom lock which will permit the boom structure to move freely for a short period of time after the seat switch senses that the operator has left the loader seat.
Because of the generally rough operating conditions of a skid-steer loader, it has been found that the operator will occasionally bounce up and down off his seat. This bouncing movement, even though the operator has not actually left the seat, causes the seat switch to respond as though the operator has left the loader seat and will result in the boom lock, such as a solenoid valve in the hydraulic circuit to the boom lift cylinders, being activated.
A series of up and down bouncing movements by the operator would cause the boom lock device to alternate between an activated condition and an unactivated condition and result in the boom structure itself bouncing up and down to impose further vibrations on the loader. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a seat interlock mechanism which would compensate for the up and down bouncing movements of the operator during operation of the loader without locking the boom structure, yet be operable to lock the boom structure when the operator has actually left his seat.